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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>>we mentioned at the top of the broadcast there is a
rescue mission
under way off the coast of florida to rescue dozens of stranded
pilot whales
.
mark potter
has a late report tonight for us from
everglades national park
.

>> reporter: our journey to find the stranded whales began in
everglades national park
where we sped through creeks and bays to get to the
gulf of mexico
. in an area known as
highland beach
we came upon people tending to
pilot whales
close to shore. they were discovered tuesday afternoon. scientists from noaa arrived this morning the to find 51 whales, six
already dead
, four others so stressed and dehydrated they had to be euthanized.

>>some of the animals might stay with their ill podmates rather than swim into
deeper water
.

>> reporter: all day long veterinarians in boats have been surrounding the whales, trying to corral them and keep them from swimming even closer to shore. now the scientists are taking advantage of the
high tide
on this
sand bar
to try to move the whales into
deeper water
before the tide turns and the whales are once again stranded. but a big problem, officials say, is that the whales now face a virtual obstacle course of sand bars stretching 20 miles toward the much
deeper water
where they are normally found. in recent years there have been other
whale strandings
in florida including this one two years ago near
key west
. 23 whales were stranded then. most died. while rescuers say the prognosis for the whales now is not good because they are too dehydrated and weak to be saved they hope at least some can eventually be guided back to
open water
. now that night has fallen the
rescue workers
have come back to the dock for safety reasons. we are told they will go back out
tomorrow morning
. brian?